Recent content by Andrew Means

My Ericson 27 has been languishing without new bottom paint for probably 6 years now - it's been doing so in fresh water, and each time it's been hauled out we've been assured that the hull is in great shape (no blisters), although the paint is badly pitted and pretty much shot, so when we paint...

So my E27 has an aluminum tank that got a bunch of 'varnish' inside and it ended up killing at least one of the three outboards which have seen service on the Wino Country Safari (and being a prime suspect in the other's demise). We switched to portable plastic tanks, which work fine but aren't...

I'll head down to the boat tomorrow and take one for you.

I ended up getting an Orca dinghy from Dinghy Co in Mount Vernon, WA. It's the 7.5' version and it rows beautifully, and is a lot of fun to sail. Fits nicely on the foredeck as well; giving us more maneuverability when changing sails.

I've got a ton of miscellaneous lengths of rope and can't think of a good way to store them... Right now they're crammed into the shelves on the V-berth but I worry about them molding up there and the invariably end up spilling out everywhere...

If you tell me that beautifully lit, dry boat house was heated I'm going to hate you forever : )

Dang - sounds like one heck of a job. How much 5200 did you use!? Did you do it on the hard or in the water?

Thanks! How was the installation? Difficult?

Hey Dave - What was the specific item you ended up using from Wefco? How much did it cost? Our rub seems to do nothing but leech chalky residue down the hull and I've been itching to replace it...

If the only thing stopping you from mounting the traveler on the cabin top is worrying about the boom, then I wouldn't worry. If you distribute the weight across a number of points I'm sure the boom will be plenty strong. I would think the sideways stresses on a hard riser over the helm...

Yeah, I've got most of that stuff already (although the image on that page does give a really clear example of what's needed); I was just hoping to simplify the stuff on the boom...

I've got an E-27 and I fear I'm just making the boom into swiss cheese trying to add enough cleats and guys to run the reefing lines. I'd like to clean it up and run the lines back to the cockpit, and the nicest way to do that is probably to get a new boom and run the lines through it.

Awesome - looks great!

Phew! Good thing everything worked out well! I've had that same panicky moment myself: We had only owned the boat for a short time when were sailing in Lake Washington with probably 12 people and were really heeled over. A girl went belowdecks to go to the bathroom and came back up with a...

Yes, you can "easily" install a holding tank under the front V-berth, in sense that there aren't any particularly crazy skills required beyond patience and some sweat : ) And I would make that your first major project, if I were you; we had a port-a-potty in our first boat (a Thunderbird 26')...